A hinge is commonly used to enable pivotal movement of one member relative to another. Hinges generally include one hinge section mounted to a first of the members, and another hinge section mounted to the other of the members. In a typical hinge, interdigital knuckles receive a pin that defines the axis of rotation of the hinge sections.
It is sometimes desired to have a powered or driven hinge, that is, where a motor or other actuator is used to rotatably move one of the hinge sections relative to the other. It may also be desirable to incorporate a locking mechanism to prevent the hinge sections from being rotated, except by the driving actuator, when they are in their desired end-of-travel positions. It is, of course, known to provide a powered or driven hinge having an auxiliary locking mechanism that is operated independently of the driving mechanism. However, this requires an additional operating mechanism and means for selecting the angle at which it would be operated. Various types of driven hinges and locking mechanisms are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,081,053, 4,064,981, 5,310,138, 5,344,103 and 5,558,299, the aggregate disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
A typical application of a power-driven hinge is the wing-fold mechanism on a carrier-based aircraft. An electric motor is used to unfold the wing to its extended, flight position where it must be locked against the aerodynamic loads encountered in flight. The present invention allows continued rotation of the driving motor to automatically engage a high-torque lock at the extended position.
Accordingly, it would be generally desirable to provide an improved driven hinge in which a locking mechanism is operated automatically when the hinge sections are moved to preselected positions.